Seattle

I’m on a JetBlue* flight to Seattle. I’m heading there with my girlfriend. It’s 11:30PM Eastern time and we get in at 11:00PM Seattle time, so, I’ve got a while.

* Didn’t JetBlue only go to Rochester and a few other random cities at first? I think that’s why I’ve always liked it. I always associated it with cheap flights to Rochester and free television in the seat in front of you (before every airline did that). And I think they make the snacks available during the entire flight or I just raided the flight attendants’ station and people seem pretty cool with it.

My laptop is open and I’m just adding more ambient light to the cabin with another glowing screen. Everyone has their TV screen and then a tablet or a phone. I can see what everyone’s watching, that’s how I found out that John McCain died. Someone was watching Fox News in first class. He seemed like a decent guy (John McCain, not the guy watching Fox), that’s sad.

But back to Seattle.

What do I know about Seattle? Kurt Cobain, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Jimi Hendrix, rain, the movie Singles, Microsoft, Starbucks, season seven of The Real World, that market where they throw the fish, the Mariners… that’s it. I forgot who told me this but someone said that Portland is for people in their twenties and Seattle is for people in their thirties, basically meaning that it was more professional and expensive. I’m in my forties, so, I suppose it’s irrelevant.

I’m looking forward to exploring another city. I’m running a race in Seward Park tomorrow. I’m saying that like I know what Seward Park is. I don’t but the google image pictures look nice. Apparently there’s still smoke all over the city from the wildfires but the race hasn’t been cancelled. So, let’s do this.

A great thing about exploring a city for the first time is that I don’t care how much of a tourist I seem like. I went to Alcatraz the first time I was in San Francisco. I went to Rodeo Drive and Grauman’s Chinese Theater in L.A. I went to the French Quarter in New Orleans. I got a Gino’s cheesesteak in Philly. I got drunk and acted like a dick in Boston. So, when I go to Seattle, I want to go to the Public Market and maybe the Space Needle but, most importantly I want to go – nay, make a pilgrimage – to the first Starbucks. On the one hand, it’s a corporation that’s taken over our cities, on the other, I love caffeine and strong, dark coffee. My relationship with Starbucks is as old as my relationship with New York at this point, so, I’m looking forward to that. I’m getting a mug. It’s what I do (hell, I did it in Paris, for Christ’s sake).

I don’t have a clever way to end this post and my eyes are hurting. Signing off.

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